The Vermont Supreme Court has dealt a legal setback to the defense team of the driver charged with murder in a police chase that killed a Rutland City officer more than three years ago.
The state’s highest court in a ruling this week denied a bid by attorneys for 23-year-old Tate Rheaume to challenge a Rutland judge’s decision blocking the introduction at trial of a damning internal affairs report that found officer misconduct in the pursuit.
Rheaume’s lawyers had asked to appeal that decision by Rutland Superior Court Judge Cortland Corsones. The judge denied the request, and Rheaume’s attorneys then asked the Supreme Court for permission to appeal.
The high court, in a unanimous decision, stated it would not grant the appeal request, meaning Corsones’ decision will stand.
The lower court, the ruling stated, “acted within its discretion in denying permission to appeal.”
The Vermont Supreme Court decision is a blow for Rheaume’s defense. He faces several charges, including aggravated murder, in the July 2023 pursuit that led to the death of 19-year-old Jessica Ebbighausen, a Rutland City police trainee.
A great deal of legal wrangling in the case has focused on an internal affairs report, which became public last year.
That report strongly criticized officers’ actions leading up to and during the chase, finding that officers had committed several policy violations. Those policy violations, according to the report, included conducting a pursuit for something other than a violent felony and not seeking authorization to continue a pursuit.
Then-Rutland City Police Commander Sam Delpha, the author of the internal affairs report, wrote in his conclusion, “The death of Officer Ebbighausen WAS preventable.” Delpha has since retired from the department.
Rheaume, according to charging documents, was allegedly fleeing from authorities after reports that he was inside the home of a former partner in Rutland on July 7, 2023.
Rheaume’s lawyers had sought to introduce testimony regarding the internal affairs report at trial, contending that it was important for jurors to consider officers’ conduct.
However, Corsones rejected that attempt.
“Under these circumstances,” Corsones wrote in the ruling, “any violations by the involved officers of the internal departmental pursuit policy could not be found to be an efficient, intervening cause breaking the chain of causation of the defendant’s actions, in the criminal context.”
David Sleigh, an attorney for Rheaume, said Friday he was disappointed with the Vermont Supreme Court’s decision.
“It seemed to us that the decision to send an ill-equipped, untrained officer into an ongoing chase was a decision that cost her life,” Sleigh said.
“It’s our view that the jury should be able to consider that argument,” he added, “but apparently the view of the Vermont court is that they can’t. That is disappointing to say the least.”
Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan declined to comment Friday.
No trial date has been set. The next hearing in the case is set for Oct. 5.
